TAMPA — Gary Carter’s love of baseball took him to Palm Beach Atlantic University and into the hearts of a new generation of baseball players.
Two years ago, I was in the dugout with Carter after a tough loss. This was his first season as a college coach. It was early in the season, the team was struggling and he vowed to turn it around. The same fire he showed with the 1986 Mets was burning brightly.
“We’re going to learn to play the game right, and we’re going to get players in here who will do just that,’’ Carter bellowed that night. The team he inherited managed to pull together 17 wins that season. Last year Carter’s team won 27 games, the most victories for the school since joining Division II in 2006.
One of the players brought in was a junior outfielder named Nick Natale. When The Kid brought you into the program, he brought you into his family, his life.
Natale, who played at Seton Hall Prep, was hit with a staph infection last season that sent him to the hospital for six days. His mother was able to travel to be with her son, but Nick’s dad had work in New Jersey and could not make it to West Palm Beach.
Four of those six days Carter visited Natale in the hospital.
“He’d spend an hour and a half with Nick each time,’’ Bill Natale told the Post last night. “I’d talk to Nick on the phone and I’d say, ‘What’d you guys talk about?’ Nick would say, ‘Dad, we talked about everything.’ Nick loved Gary.’’
Nick and the rest of the Sailfish players are in mourning today at Palm Beach Atlantic. Carter’s body was ravaged from the terrible fight against brain tumors, and he died late yesterday afternoon.
The kids loved The Kid.
“He was tough, make no mistake about it,’’ Bill Natale said. “But he was fair. He was concerned about his players. It was about your grades, your faith and he made the team a family. He taught them how to play the game right. He made the program a success.’’
Carter desperately wanted to manage in the major leagues. He won everywhere he went as a minor league manager, three times winning manager of the year awards, but for some reason, his Hall of Fame resume just wasn’t good enough to be hired as a major league manager, and that’s a shame.
This past July I was up at Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Everyone was sad that The Kid could not make it. Each year the lobby of the stately Otesaga Hotel comes alive with baseball legends such as Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Whitey Ford and so many others. The hotel overlooks a pristine lake. It is a Norman Rockwell painting.
That afternoon Johnny Bench said, “It’s a gorgeous day, but it’s not, without Gary’s smile.”
Carter will be missed, his smile will be missed, but he will not be forgotten. He will be remembered from the beautiful village of Cooperstown to the beautiful campus of Palm Beach Atlantic. His college team is 5-2. Nick Natale, the outfielder sidelined by the staph infection last year, is batting .320 and scouts are coming around.
The Kid is gone, but his legacy lives on in so many baseball lives.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com